Tag Archives: Thingvillir

KarlonSep 12, 2010with Comments Off on A journey around Iceland (Part 2) The Golden Circle

The most popular day trip from Reykjavik is to the “Golden Circle” — three beautiful natural attractions which aren’t golden or even vaguely circular. The first of these is located about a one hour drive from the capitol, the farthest at least another hour further. All three sites are well worth seeing.

This is one of Iceland’s two UNESCO World Heritage Sites (the other, Surtsey, is a recently formed uninhabited volcanic island). Thingvellir is remarkable for two reasons. First, it’s a rift valley, with the opposing walls of this valley moving in opposite directions at a rate of …